Gnomy (VII, dropped due to embarrassing family legacy) the rogue finally achieved what so many in his family line before him failed to do...conquer Sauron and Morgoth. Took a few swings with Grond for fun before realizing how tired his old bones had become and that it was time to fade into retirement.

This guy had one of slowest starts I've ever had. Usually get lucky and pull a decent ego armor or very early weapon drop to amp up either survivability or offensive capability which speeds up the early part of the game. Didn't happen here, but I stayed patient and relied heavily on stealth to just pilfer what I could and escape from dangerous encounters. Picking up Aiglos at 750' immediately changed the game, that spear carried me through to end game and I didn't replace it until picking up the Trident of Wrath at 4950', followed shortly thereafter by Ringil. Spent far longer tempting fate than I should have collecting gear and supplies at dlvl 98-99 for a final run, but it did allow me to get a good feel for how strong the character had really become and what situations were still dangerous. Got quite a bit of satisfaction knocking off so many uniques that had squashed multitudes of my previous characters like bugs.

A hearty thanks to all that have kept this game alive for so many years. My friends and I played it manically in college in the mid 90s, don't recall anyone ever winning, mostly rabid save scummed just to keep progressing. On a whim, a quick google search a couple months back found the forums and that the game was still going strong. Couldn't resist diving back in and found that it hit all the right gaming notes for me that I'd been missing lately. Now on to my next character!

Some similarities here to my back story before my first win. Played it quite frequently in the 90's, started a game after almost 20 years and won it swinging Aiglos. Didn't find it this early but all the same, after finding it the game became much easier.

I think most players would count finding Aiglos at 750' as a lucky early weapon drop ;-)

Thanks! In that context, absolutely, far and away the best weapon I've ever picked up sub 2000', let alone 750'. In previous games I'd routinely see a basic slay animal or slay evil (if lucky) ego weapon drop by 500' feet which would open up a little combat flexibility to start diving down further. In this instance, I had scummed up and down around 500' mark still swinging a dagger with simple hit/dam modifier for a grand total of like 25 dmg/turn. Suddenly Aiglos shows up at 750' and now swinging for 200 dmg/turn. Completely changed my trajectory. =)

Congratulations! I am relatively new to Angband (started playing in late 2013) and have played off and on since then. I've surprised myself in that I have been on an unceasing binge since June; enjoying the game more now than ever. I agree it hits all the right gaming notes; and I likewise appreciate all that the devs and forum contributors do for the game.